Arab American women share challenges, triumphs at MVCC panel talk – Chicago Tribune

Naya Khartabeel, a student at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills and board member of the Arab Student Union, was eying a career in law, but she wasn’t finding many role models she could relate to.

“Watching ‘Legally Blonde,’ that wasn’t very inspiring for me,” she said.

That was part of the idea behind the recent Reclaiming our Narrative: Arab American and Muslim American Women’s Panel at the college, an Arab American Heritage Month event.

“We love you women,” Khartabeel said as she introduced the panel. “Especially for me, when I first put on the hijab, it was kind of hard to get sources of inspiration. … But you have these amazing women who represent minority groups.”

The discussion was led by Nina Shoman-Dajani, assistant dean of Learning Enrichment & College Readiness, who said the panel was fueled by the many generations of Arab Americans and Muslim Americans who have attended the college.

“They come here today as volunteers, which shows their service to the community, which is much appreciated by a college like ours, which is based on serving the community,” said Shoman-Dajani, who also is an adviser to the ASU.

Panelists credited a variety of influences, including the community, MVCC and other mentors, with their success. They discussed the challenges they faced because of prejudices and stereotypes, but also emphasized their triumphs.

When Fidaa Elaydi started law school more than a decade ago, she didn’t know any female Arab Muslim attorneys.

Elaydi now practices immigration law at her firm, Elaydi Law LLC in Bridgeview, and she was glad to take part in the panel.

“I was coming of age during the post-9/11 era and it really adjusted my understanding of who I was as an Arab American, as a Muslim American and my position in society,” said Elaydi. “I felt under attack.”

She said Bridgeview was “home of lots of surveillance by the FBI” and discussed the government case against the late Mohammed Salah, an area business owner who was charged with funding terrorists but later acquitted.

Elaydi grew up in Texas, where she heard that the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was accused of sending funds to Hamas. She organized her peers and others to attend the trial in 2007 and show support for people she said were helping Palestinian orphans and widows.

“After I saw how the legal system was used to persecute my people and people I identified with, I went into law so I could defend members of our community when they were subject to persecution by the government,” she said.

Nadia Ahmed, strategy and operations consultant in Deloitte’s Government and Public Services practice, said she was influenced by social and political activism in the southwest suburbs.

“At first it was direct service,” said Ahmed. “Then as the years went on, I started thinking about how can you maximize your impact, I started to look up tech. How do you build systems in government that are actually going to change how inclusive government agencies are towards people, to include underserved communities?”

Mentorship was another core topic for the panelists. Elaydi, who lived in Palestine as a child and came from a refugee family, pointed to an uncle who was in an Israeli military prison and released in 2010 after 21 years.

“Whenever we would visit Palestine, we would have an opportunity to talk to him by phone,” she said. “It was really just a source of inspiration. We would call him to try to give him hope and it would be the opposite.”

Mary Hazboun, a Chicago-based artist whose work highlights the trauma women experience and their resistance to oppression, said Laila Farah, an associate professor in Women’s and Gender Studies at DePaul University was invaluable as a mentor, as well as a former colleague who helped her give voice to her own struggles.

“Just to have that connection and to see someone who reflects you out there….,” said Shoman-Dajani. “We are combating stereotypes of our community constantly.”

Suha Abunijmeh, an inventory control and quality assurance operations manager at Amazon, said watching high achievers had inspired her and noted her own bicultural background.

“Growing up, I wanted to challenge the status quo, to challenge the limited beliefs they give women.”

Challenging the status quo was a common theme for participants.

“It’s very clear that even 20 years after 9/11, there’s still an attack on our people — that’s sort of been the purpose of my career,” Elaydi said.

“I like being able to keep families together and unify families. I also love suing the federal government.”

Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.